 Good morning my lovely viewers and welcome to real talk. I am your host Eve Nyaga So we've been told so many times be peaceful people preach peace and anywhere you go make sure that your acts Make sure that ensure that the environment is peaceful But where do we start when we tell people to preach about peace? So you can be part of this conversation by telling us where you're watching us from or sending in your question and comments on Social media across on social media on e-sacutes across all our platforms Or you can reach me directly on my social media platforms at Eve Anascony Agawan on Instagram and Twitter and Evelyn Nyaga on Facebook So today in studio I'm joined by two gentlemen from money clubs and they'll be telling us where peace starts. Welcome. Thank you very much So I'll start with you kindly introduce yourself and tell us what you do. Yeah, thank you. My name is Zumbe Derito I come from the Abadaya region. I'm the assistant coordinator of Mania Peace Club region I Also my teacher at a school called Kiaragana girls in Kerinyaga We also advocate through counseling In schools issues to do with peace I'm very grateful that you have hosted us today. We are glad to have you kindly introduce yourself and my name is Fred Kevin I am Professionally a trainer on character development. That is what I speak about I'm also part of a money club association as an event organizer for the Abadaya region together with Mr. Derito here and We are so glad to be here to talk about peace and encourage the youth to carry it forward Yes, I'm so Mr. Derito. Tell us what a money club is well after the post-election violence of 2007 and 2008 There were issues that arose about how our society is bled. Yes, and The government took initiative to form an organization called NCIC National Cohesion and Integration Commission this Organization that is in the Ministry of Interior Came up with the concept of the money clubs in schools and has been selling this idea of a money club in schools since That period and we have been inching clubs So as to preach peace to the young people we know that When you bring up a child in a piece of way he or she is going to be An ambassador of peace naturally. Yeah, and that is why The NCIC has been supporting these clubs in schools so that we can establish an incubator of Peace ambassadors right from the young people Research has shown that when you train a child in peace they will naturally become peace ambassadors That is why we have been talking about money clubs in schools, and I'm here representing the Abadir region I am the assistant coordinator My boss is called Obati who is from Ranga. I When we have penetrated many schools, but we want to speak to more schools. Yes in order to preach peace So it's just like a normal club like drama club generally think club It is not as normal as maybe okay, maybe normal is not the word but it's just like Another club like drama club. Yeah, it is another club like drama club. Although it cuts across all those other clubs It's like a number of clubs because we pick people from different clubs and we Cogregate them together so that when we release them, they're going to preach that peace in those respective clubs Yes, but it works just like any other club in in a school. Yes Mr. Kevin and you said that you teach character development and we are saying that When we need to teach young children from the Wadco, so how what does character development have to do with training young children? I'll take you back a bit to the politics we have today. Yeah, if you look at our society today Trust is something that is so hard to find currently Yeah, and you'll realize that even trusting a politician becomes a very big issue when youth go to forums organized by politicians They expect to be paid not to receive what the politician actually came to to give them Or even to pass across their message. This is what we want you to do. Why because if you look at character character simply means the mental or The what are they called the moral values that are key to a person? So that means that Integrity is very key in character development. Yes Integrity simply means becoming one with yourself now for Majority of young people or even let's let's take the concept of peace For there to be peace you have to be and I have to be and he has to be and everybody else We have to be one with ourselves So that means that my word my action and my promises are actually one Now I'm for there to be peace. We have to ensure those three things are one now. Currently. We say one thing Do another promise something entirely different. So there is always going to be that Conflict with ourselves first of all because for you to have a sense of identity You have to know yourself properly And I think that is one of the main things that I found to be missing and that is why I'm character development is so important When it comes to creating peace in our society. Yes So can you tell us what activities take place in the money clubs? Well, there are so many activities and they are grouped into various categories To rhyme with the activities of a school one we have academic activities We have debates that are organized at the school level and also at the Regional level the national level for example just the other day In June we had the national debate competition in Mobasa That way we are trying to help people articulate issues to do with peace We also help them to have critical mind because you cannot have People who are peaceful if they cannot to critique what is going on in their environment So we help them to do that number two. We also have writing competitions the students sit together and the right Essays on issues to do with the peace and also the environment because environment is very crucial Yeah on issues to do with the peace then within the school. We could also have Dialogue meetings where people now Critic the environment and the issues that bring out conflicts then we also have issues and this where I fall very I fall And I like this area very much that is to do with guidance and counseling in guidance and counseling as he is saying there is an issue of Moral development we train we teach these young people on issues to do with with with the conflict resolution and It is not just about conflict resolutions within the entire School, but also starting with themselves. They have issues that are burning in them They have issues that they have carried from home Yeah, and they need to resolve those issues before they can resolve the Interpersonal issues so they start with themselves through guidance and counseling number two We now go to the next level and that is interpersonal The interpersonal part is where now they interact in the classes They are growing up and they may not have the the skills to know how to interact with each other And from time to time they are going to conflict. So how do they solve these conflicts? Yeah, then there is that the third level and that is the level of the students versus the the teachers How do they? Resolve conflicts because when they are interacting with the teachers They will tend to come up with their own opinions about the teachers about the policies of the school If they have issues with those policies, how do they manage? The differences and lastly I talked about schools being an incubator of peace So how do we prepare these people to? To face the society out there. Yeah in order for them to become peace ambassadors So it starts from the personal level all the way to the the the national level then the other activity We have our cleanups We need also to interact with the environment and One way of maybe creating that aspect of peace in a person is how they treat the environment Yeah, if you are a person who keeps on interfering with the environment There is an element of lack of peace in you So we train them to interact with the environment in the right way through cleanups through tree planting through creation of Establishment of nurseries and other projects within the school Then we also use these groups to go out of the school environment to interact with others With the community. Yeah, for example, they can also have cleanup in hospital cleanup in in the market, they can also interact with the less Advantage people in society like in children's homes. They visit them They give them whatever they could they could in order for them to uplift their hearts Yeah, so we are training them to be all around it among other activities You talked about events and As I can hear from him those are a couple of events that you've done So how successful have these events been or rather the goal that you intended to achieve? Did you achieve it? I'll give one case in point Last year, there's a school called Keremara Boys High School in Nyeri County They were all over the news in regards to a strike that they had And this year they were the key target. Yeah Yeah, we wanted to to see can we be able to turn that around and we did a very massive event there We had the an attendance of 1500 students from across the Abadia region and I I am happy to report That school has been so peaceful and has been a key part of a Selling our message in terms of it's not something they are Putting out there to be to sort of show. Yeah, that's we are trying to be Peaceful, but in real sense in the school you can actually feel the peace I'm they've gone for an entire from January to this point. No strikes whatsoever The the the the the suspensions and so on have reduced significantly. So the other event we had is that to Mutomo girls You know, one of the things I love about that school is the fact that the principal herself has ensured that Every point of leadership in that school is centered around a money club So if you want to be a leader you have to first of all go through a money club Yeah, so every single club every single class has an a money ambassador in them and they actually take that to the society Yeah, we had an event with them that entire week had a set of events for for the society They went to to Mutomo hospital. They went to to Mutomo primary. They gave Sanitary parts to to to the girls in that school and the most one of the most amazing things I found is they did not only think about the girl, but they thought of the boy as well They also gave them gifts. Yeah, which was really amazing So we've we've had events in Nyeri Kirinaga. You've had a few events. We had a peace debate at Baricho boys. So we've we've really tried to to to to be as a as out there as possible and I Think we can we can actually gladly report that that entire region especially the key areas Really focused on which is Kirinaga County and Nyeri County strikes have really reduced Yeah, and we are really hoping that this can be now a trend. Yeah, we are no longer see strikes in our schools Peaceful young people in our schools peaceful country, and I think it's something that We need also to just take it beyond the schools, but also to families. Yes, because As we've seen in majority of the cases the students we've dealt with Majority of them are saying it's actually not that stress is coming from school. We have very comfortable in school So you're saying before we get to the families one of the problems that causes This unrest in schools comes from the families. Yes from this perspective Imagine so There is me. There is a my friend. Let's give him the name Mike. There's a Anthony on the other hand There's another guy there So I come from Like a family that never knows peace mom and dad the mom and dad they do fight every single day My brother and I fight every single day and I come back to school. It's so much stress and pressure Now Anthony on the other hand Has been molested by the father or the mother and there's another girl there who goes through the same same thing So we've not resolved that so all of us are coming to school looking for a place The thing about and rest even at home is it robs you of a sense of belonging Yeah, so when you come to school, you want to belong somewhere and trust you me There is no better place that one can belong and I'm speaking from experience than in a place where you just don't care Everybody around you doesn't care. So all those heads put together. That's why we are experiencing a lot of unrest in school So yes, family is one of the key Areas that really robs off peace in our society. Do you mind sharing maybe other issues that came up? When you're trying to settle these conflicts especially when it comes to schools it's it's Well, I can't really share all the stories there. They are quite many and most of them are quite heartbreaking to be very honest I'm an especially and I'm not saying the boy child is not going through. I'm the same but From the girls schools we've been to There's really a lot that is happening. Yeah, and we've gone to schools where girls are sexually molested by their parents by their brothers by their cousins And when they tell the parents the mother or the father they are threatened Yeah, but if you actually take this through we are going to take certain actions You are going to be kicked out of home. So it's quite heartbreaking that the one source That you are to feel Safe around the one place that you are to feel I Actually belong and I am loved is the very place where that sense of belonging and peace and love is taken away from you From the boys perspective We've seen a lot of absentee fathers and not only fathers, but even mothers and boys are left to Now figure out what it means on your own to become a man Which is very difficult because when you do that, um, for example, you may tell a child I don't want to see you outside. So I want you to lock yourself in the house Yeah, what you've actually done to that child is you've allowed the child to go to their phone and bring the world to the house Yes, so if I want to know what it entails to become a man. I'll just Google online. So some of the The the definitions of how to become a man or how to handle some of the situations of stress in life I Interpreted or are given by people who are also going through a similar thing that you're doing so all of you end up being very confused and very broken and I Think there's a lot that we need to do. There's a lot of sensitization that needs to be Taken across especially from family level and let's create spaces where At least young people can feel free to really talk out their issues I was talking a while back to parents in a school and I told them One of the main challenges men have and especially young men nowadays is you are told one woman So you can't talk Yeah, so you have to keep on piling up issues piling up issues and that is what we are seeing in society So you end up seeing we have very huge cases of suicides. I was reading an article. I will back I'm produced by one of the Media houses and they were saying in Nyeri County alone a hundred and twenty people commit suicide every single month Majority are men. Yeah That is very sad You see I was reading yet another one where it was saying seven out of ten girls between the ages of 13 to I think 18 or 24 are having sex. That's a very young age. Yeah, and that's a very big number But we need I think to sit and ask ourselves. Why is this really happening? And I think We have to really create character. What character does to you is it makes you Question yourself question your morals and it makes you be true to yourself. So I think yeah around that topic I think yeah, that's the main thing So what are you doing when it comes to the family levels to make sure that peace entails? There are so many things that need to be done and there are so many things we are doing for example We have in schools established something we call family needs We train peer counselors and that is one of the concepts of money clubs and also The National Association of Counseling Teachers. We have brought together those those concepts Where we train the peer counselors and from there we are able to contact or to reach the parent So the meetings are organized in the at the school level and The parents and the students come together so that they are they can interact with each other and guided environment A safe environment as he is saying there is a lot going on in the family As a counselor, I may not talk about this on media but it is quite worrying that I I think that Our morality has gone to the dogs The children who are more rested by their own uncles their own brothers have dealt with cases of Incest within the family you've left them there. Yeah, so what happens or what is happening now is we are trying to Ask schools Let's these people come together in a kind of a family day I'll be launching one in McQuinney next month Where we bring all the parents together we talk to them we bring the teachers on board because these teachers are the ones We're going to be taking care of Taking out of the students in school and they have more time with them during the period that is called the adolescent period They have more time with the teachers than the parents So we bring the parents together so that they can continue with the same molding number two is we have We have that element of Church coming on board I minister with the redeemed gospel church Karatina and we Have what we called it in classes. Yeah, and we bring parents And they are teens together when we do that we have trying to cross the gap between the teens Yeah, and they are parents. These are very sensitive period for the teen because they are Their way of looking at the world is disrupted by the internal changes They have and also the external changes so the expectations are different from What they expected as a child as they were growing up and they could run to their moms and their dads and Tell them what is going on when they come to the age of 12 onwards. They no longer comfortable Yeah, it is called the delineation of the parent and we can research shows That parents who spend more time with their kids doing activities that the kids like the parents may not like it Yeah, but the kid likes the the activity for example playing of chess playing of darts even throwing Balls around rain together When we bring them at the adolescence age these people manage their adolescence successfully Yeah, but parents who talk to They have their kids kids dead to block So even when you need this child, the child is no longer there Psychologically they have blocked physically they are there, but psychologically they have blocked So you we need as parents to learn parenting skills for their adolescence, and it's very crucial So we use the schools we use the churches and we also use the communities I'm presently working with the The chiefs around my area to see that we could bring Families together or we could bring these people together the part the teens and the parents together So that we can talk to them at the village level so that they can expand They that knowledge to the schools when they open. Yeah, but In conclusion, there is no peace Without work. We must work for It is it is must be more action oriented than just talk because Unfortunately is full of talk Describing what is going on, but they are not acting. Yes, we must be proactive Yes, and we must engage ourselves with these young people Yeah, that is my call for this mission that we must engage Because once a teen does not cross over successfully. We have one more person a candidate for jail Yeah Once at a teen does not cross over successfully. We have another Potential broken marriage. Yes, and the psycho continues and therefore the society becomes chaotic And we already paid on people who take advantage of us. Yeah. Yes, okay So how many schools have you managed to form their money clubs? I Think is one of the regions or one of the counties where a money club has really taken root partly, I think because He's His school is on that side. So they've managed to really push the agenda of that side. Yeah, in Nyeri There are schools which have a money clubs, but I think there's a lot of follow-up and sensitization Sensitization that needs to be done for them to understand the key role of a money club because Just as you mentioned initially You you did ask is He's a money club sort of like a normal club. Yeah, we wanted to be an extraordinary club. Yeah with with Whose message can be communicated to the entire school and not only to the school But out of our money clubs in those particular schools Yeah, the same character the same lessons the same values that are shared there The leaders who are going to be turned out from school the leaders of tomorrow can come out with the same same values. Yes and Well, I think you would better have the statistics of the exact schools in the entire Country that have signed up for the same But we are really trying to sort of now get it to the schools and we've seen by the the schools which have taken A money clubs in their schools so seriously That club is having a big impact and changing Maybe I could add there is another Area or another County that has penetrated and I think The penetration level in the morang is very high. Yeah, thanks to the money club of the money club Thanks to mr. O'Batty who is the coordinator in that County and also He is my boss. Yeah, as I said, he's the regional coordinator about their region He has been able to penetrate that you sing Kesha, that is the Kenya secondary schools heads Association and We have seen a lot of goodwill from the heads Association from Murang and I wish that That could happen in other regions. I also want to To to mention and the coordinator Kirinaga County and Madama Sumta who is the principal Kiburia girls She has really worked for a money clubs in the region because I'm talking about the region I know that there is a lot of penetration in other areas like Like the the coast region. There's a lot of penetration because there is It is not just in a bad air. It is all over. We have Western we have There is a lot of penetration. In fact, we have more penetration in certain regions of kuala and those areas and also eastern Thanks to The coordination by the way the chairperson the national chairperson comes from the coast region That is mr. Kibbe In Nyeri we have the upper region that has also penetrated Thanks to the coordinator mr. Mogusu who is working very hard there and The lower part has not really shown some Park course, but it's a challenge now that we're going to get out there. Yeah, Nya darwa has been in the lal And I'm challenging the coordinators there to up the game Uh, kibbe also has some light But we need more activity there So we have an all-rounded club because it is supported at the national level by the nc i c And I believe that after these these Show we are going to have Vibrants in the in the in the whole region and I also want to mention that These I think from 10th Some of the patterns are headed to Kigali For benchmarking. Yes, they want to know what is really this real thing about the genocide How can we Plant the seed of peas even after the chaos that That happened in After the genocide or during the genocide So they will be headed there from 10th to 15th And I believe they're going to come up to come with the lessons And we want to have more activities and because I'm speaking for their badea I'm challenging schools without the peace clubs to Start up those peace clubs. Is there is there um like What is required for a anamani club in a particular school? Simply have people who are willing to talk about peace. I'll be mentioning maybe later Or something about conflicts solution and what What we can have in a school but We only need willing people A willing patron and a willing group of people He brings them together. They do an election in that school so that they can have a chairperson or vice chairperson or secretary A treasurer and then in other posts that they would want to have and then they have They can get The write-ups from us how to manage money clubs in schools We have Booklets that we give out and we also have other organizations that support the whole mission So it's simply walk out there Say we want to start a peace club identify a patron if you are the student who is watching us Identify a patron talk to them about peace clubs And then establish one then get in touch with us We'll be giving the contacts and then after that We will train the The the patrons. Yeah, like we I believe In in september we'll be having the training in nyeri Of the piece of the for the patrons. Yeah, thanks to the ncac We want to have them have the the skills of Managing those clubs And when we do that we also ask the principals in those schools to support their man clubs They could be at the Infancy stage But they can work miracles. I have seen that happen. I've seen how that happened in kerenaga schools I've seen that happen in moranga schools in nyeri schools. So it is something that we can do Uh as as as an initiative. Let us be proactive. Yes, so as we wind up I wanted um, you share the contacts that um, if maybe A school um, or maybe a students Wanted to contact you so that they can have the the club in their schools Um, my number is zero seven two zero twenty six ten Sixty nine zero seven two zero Twenty six ten Sixty nine they can sms their contacts so that we can send those booklets to them via WhatsApp. They can also reach me on Facebook though, but the rito and we can chat. Yes. What about your contacts? If you don't mind sharing My contact is a zero seven two one nine three one eight two three Zero seven two one nine three one eight two three So I would love to continue sharing the conversation and even in our in in in my own community my own background um, I'm also doing a bit of activity with the young people in In uh in our community just to ensure that we are able to take that message of peace To the very grassroots. Yes Um I just hope the next time we come here there is going to be bigger impact Yeah, yes, that's true. Yeah, we'll do like a follow-up to see how far you've gotten with the initiative So thank you so much for coming for the interview and It's a good job that you're doing and um, we hope that it becomes it has a bigger impact in the in the long run Yes, could you kindly repeat your social media? Facebook page and your contacts I My contact is zero seven two zero 26 10 69 I'm don't do what the rito On facebook, um, don't do what the rito just don't do what the rito I don't think there's any other one Then there is uh, also the element of um, the the slogan Speak peace be peace Talk peace. Okay. Yes So once again, thank you so much Um, I want to sample some of the comments that you've sent in on our social media pages We have kamau guitari What to mine watching from to mine in yandara county apa Then asking use you. Thank you so much for tuning in. We have berets ranz you um Um, come over tuned in from karura one love one aim one destiny. Thank you so much for tuning in We have over over keyboard naivasha mirera present Child's ireri wa shamata morning watching from shamata Honorable kaba Muno roku kirinaga tuned in so I can see people from your region are tuned in Yes, thank you so much for tuning in and as you have heard from the gentlemen It starts all the way from the grassroots Let's teach our children and the young ones how to be peaceful people And it's not just talking to them engage them in activities that will allow them to preach peace So don't you go anywhere more if it's acute coming your way